Whats the most fuel efficient way to return form the Mun?

[gta-man]

Just wanted to know this since i will get a rover there, but i want my little Kebals at home to tell the story!

I will use the Mun Rover from here: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=8431.0

Also... What is the best way to get the rover on the mun terrain after landing the main ship?

Thanks!

[Fifflethecat]

When I tried to leave the Mun with the same little rover, I used the RCS but kinda tipped over.

The best way to get off of the lander is what is shown on the picture. Decouple from the main ship then use a little bit of RCS to lift you off from the rest of the rocket then land the rover slowly onto the mun!

[dogon11]

Most fuel efficient way to return is to wait until you are pointing the opposite of the Mun\'s orbit, and then fire the engines until you have escape velocity from the Mun. Then, wait until the apogee of the orbit around Kerbin, and fire retrograde then. Everything should go well.

Also, for the getting the rover off the lander problem, I have my descent stage above the rover, so that I can go down a hill, decouple the lander, and brake hard to get it to fly off.

[maltesh]

The most fuel-efficient way is to pop yourself off the Mun, get into a low orbit, and burn hyperbolic into an orbit that leaves out the rear of the munar SOI, directly into a return orbit.

What you\'re looking to do is have about 545 m/s velocity relative to the Mun just before you leave the center of the SOI. That will basically drop you straight down onto Kerbin once you leave it. The velocity window is fairly wide, as I recall, about 120 m/s either way.

If you want best advantage of the Oberth Effect, you\'ll want to get int a low, circular orbit heading eastward, and, a bit before you cross the center of the near side, burn up to about 850-950 m/s, similar to what\'s done in this video:

Leaving out the trailing edge of the Munar SOI also neatly avoids the bane of the low-fuel Kerbin return; Having the Mun catch up with you when you\'re trying to decelerate to hit the planet, and throw you wide again. It\'s much more obvious if it will happen in v. 0.15 than it was in previous versions, admittedly.

[Analogy]

Most fuel efficient is to take off headed toward a heading of 270 -- a 180 degree inclination. Then on the opposite side of the mun from Kerbin, burn prograde.

The direction of orbit is key here, burning prograde in that orbit is retrograde for your kerbin orbit when you escape. You are essentially combining your mun escape and kerbin deorbit burns. If you burn till your kerbin perigee is 20km or so, you\'re on a re-entry trajectory from *one* burn in munar orbit.